Paintings for real
With the 8th graders I have been talking about Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.
L. J. (8/b) wanted to go and see paintings from this period for herself and she wrote about her visit to the Hungarian National Gallery.
A Visit to the Hungarian National Gallery
Last Saturday we visited an exibition about Impressionism and Post-Impressionism at the Hungarian National Gallery. Here is my ticket:
My ticket to the National Gallery, Budapest
We saw the masterpieces of the French Monet, Renoir, Degas, Gauguin and Sisley and the paintings of their Hungarian contemporaries as Szinyei Merse Pál, Rippl-Rónai József, Ferenczy Károly and Hollósy Simon.
Monet: Flowering Plum Trees (Source: https://mng.hu/mutargyak/viragzo-szilvafak/)
Szinyei Merse Pál: Flowering Apple Trees (Source: https://www.hung-art.hu/tajkepek/v_almafa.jpg)
It was interesting to see a French and a Hungarian painting with the same subject: flowering trees. If I compare the pictures I think Monet’s painting is a bit happier, because he used more bright colours and we can see not only the trees but a village behind the trees. In Szinyei’s painting the trees stand a bit separated and the green colour is not so strong. Both of them represent nature, the spring. The technique is the same, the artists painted with quick brushstrokes. I observed if I go a bit far from the paintings they will seem sharper.
Paul Gauguin: Landscape With a Dog (Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gauguin_Paysage_avec_chien.jpg)
Alfred Sisley: Banks of the Loing - Autumn Effect
(Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gauguin_Paysage_avec_chien.jpg)
I chose these paintings because of their colours. If I think of a landscape I can see brown, green and yellow colours. But look at Gauguin’s picture! He painted purple, orange, pink and dark blue. But not only the sky is blue but the field and mountains as well. These unusual colours create a strong and amazing atmosphere. Your eyes stick on this painting.
I think Sisley liked light blue and pink, he used these colours many times. These pastel colours make the picture calm. The tree in the front stands lonely without leaves so I feel it is a bit sad.